Yashica MAT 124 G Camera?

ultrajeeps · Dec 4, 2004

Hello.

Can a Yashica MAT-124 cam G camera deliver the same results as Mamiya RZ or RB series?

Thanks.

Hertz van Rental · Dec 4, 2004

In short - no.

voodoocat · Dec 5, 2004

In longer.. it's a TLR and your pretty much stuck with the 80mm lens unless you get the auxillary lenses which kinda suck. It's as sharp as a Zeiss Tessar at f8 and above though. Anything lower and the corners are a bit soft.. but I sometimes like the effect.

ksmattfish · Dec 5, 2004

It's a 6x6cm neg compared to the 6x7cm neg of the RB or RZ. You would would end up with a neg a bit larger than 1/2 the size of the 6x7 neg if you are cropping the Yashica TLR image to a rectangle.

The tessar lens isn't as good as the more modern lens designs, but it's pretty darn good; you should try to find a print from such a lens to see what you think. Most of the quality issues come up when the older design lenses are used with at wider apertures, and in the corners of the image. I regularly use a medium format folder with an anastigmat lens design that should be a step down in quality from the tessar, and it does a fantastic job. If used properly the Yashica w/tessar would blow the pants (and if cameras wore pants) off anything 35mm.

For the price Yashica TLRs are hard to beat. I don't know what used RBs and RZs are going for these days, but if you are really interested in a TLR with a lens that would equal the Mamiya RB/RZ lens you should check out a Rolleiflex with a Zeiss Planar or Schneider Xenotar lens. I have compared 16"x16" prints taken with my Rolleiflex 3.5E Planar to similar sized enlargements taken with a Hasselblad 500C/M, a Pentax 67II, and a Mamiya RB 67 with their "normal" lenses, and it equals or surpasses them in terms of sharpness.

Hertz van Rental · Dec 5, 2004

Well the Yashicamat was a copy of the old Rolleicord...

ksmattfish · Dec 5, 2004

Hertz van Rental said:
Well the Yashicamat was a copy of the old Rolleicord...

Sure, and the Rolleicords go for cheaper than the Rolleiflexes. Other inexpensive TLRs that have great reputations are the Mamiya TLRs (interchangable lenses), and the Minolta Autocord (which has a cult following). Ricoh (Ricohflex) and Zeiss (Ikontaflex) also make TLRs that I've heard good things about.

When looking at old camera lenses here's a list of some lens names/designs you're likely to run into.

lower end: anastigmat, apotar, agnar, novar, yashikor, yashimar

in the middle: tessar, xenar, solinar, skopar, yashinon

upper end: planar, xenotar, heliar, APO-lanthar, mamiya TLR lenses

Of course it's possible to run across a lens that doesn't perform as well as it should, and sometimes you find a lens that does a lot better than you expect.